Need
by klylu
Summary: A few months after FN, Max & Alec discuss “needs”. MA


A/N: that's Pai's challenge at Nunswithpens. Here it is: "The challenge is to write a conversation including the following exchange between Alec and Max. The circumstances and who says what is up to you... I warned you it's potentially very sappy... It would be very interesting to see if anyone could un-sappy it and still make it kind of sweet... does that make sense?" Okay, i just underlined Pai's lines.

A/N2: i tried something different on this. (almost) only dialogue in the first part, and (almost) none in the second. do you think it worked?

A/N3: Aimsame beta'd for me. i luv ya, girl:D

Disclaimer: do i have to go thru this every damned time? no, i don't own them, someone else does, blah, blah...

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Max was pissed. Beyond reason.

How could he dare saying that? She couldn't believe it! She thought he had changed. But no! Give it to Alec to be the same old bastard after all this time. After all they had gone through! How could he still not understand her?

"Come on, Maxie!"

"Don't Maxie me, you asshole! How could you say that? Who do you think you are? To tell me what I feel, what I need?"

"Whoa Max, calm down, would you?"

"I don't want to calm down! I won't, till you understand!"

"_You_ don't understand, Max. And you shouldn't take it personally!"

"What? You tell me how _I_ feel and I shouldn't take it personally? Are you kidding me?"

"Max. _Maxie_. I'm not questioning your feelings, 'kay? Or belittling them. I _know_ you care. I know it! It's the 'needing part' that bothers me. When don't _need_ other people, Maxie. We simply don't! We are made this way. We're strong, independent creatures, self-reliant. Need is a weakness. A... phony sentimentality, remember?"

"So, you're saying... you're basically saying that _I don't need you_."

"Yep."

"That I just _think_ I need you."

"Glad you finally see it my way, Max!"

"That if... tomorrow for instance, White some how manages to blow up that thick head of yours, I would go on like nothing happened?"

"Oi! Well, you surely could have come up with a better example! Anyway, yes. You'd go on."

"If your sudden death won't affect me... how come I still haven't killed you, _sweetie?_ Even when you're practically begging for it, like say... now?"

"Well, that's cuz it would be a waste in human resources, and we can't afford it now and then, you're not as violent as you like to show off, and... okay, no, even I don't believe this one..."

"Oh, shut up Alec! Just be serious for once, and tell me _why_. If I don't need you... why this? You, me, together? And you still breathing to tell the tale? Just tell me _my_ reasons Alec. Make me understand why, if I don't need you, I'm willing to let you talk and _not_ manhandle you for... well, at least for 5 minutes. If you don't say anything... warped, or ludicrous, or—"

"Okay, Maxie. I got it. Just the facts, the bare truth. No embellishments, or— ouch, Max! That hurts! You said 'at least for 5 minutes'! I should have known you were lying. Anyway, your reasons? Well, you asked for it. Fact one: I'm simply irresistible. It was just matter of time, actually... Fact two: we have been stuck here for months and, fact three, you hadn't gotten laid in... _years_? Let's be honest here. Everyone has... _biological_ needs. We know you feel comfortable around me. And despite the bitchy attitude? You _care_ about me. So, sex was just the natural development in our relationship. But see? No other kinds of _need_ involved here. Just the circumstances, our predicament, the natural course of the events in such unnatural conditions... Nothing more than that."

"You still don't know a thing about human beings, you know? Or... semi-human beings. But that's not the point now. You're so smart, and still don't get it. It doesn't matter how strong we are, or self-sufficient, or... whatever. At the end of the day, everyone needs someone. Now, we can talk about my sheer luck, cuz I happen to need _you_, but this doesn't change the facts. Everyone needs someone. _I_ need _you_."

"You don't need me! And don't poke me in the chest. It hurts! You've got strong, unfeminine fingers, an—"

"I need you." Poke.  
"You _need_ air."  
"I need you." Poke.  
"You _**need**_ water."  
"I need **you**." Poke.  
"You _**need**_ food."  
"I _**need you!**_ Poke.

"**You need sl**— oomph!"

Poke after poke, Alec was forced back till his legs bumped on the couch and he fell unceremoniously on the cushions. Now, it's a universal law that you shouldn't hit your enemy when they're on the ground (or couch, whatever). Civil men and animals just don't do that. But since Max was more than an animal, clearly not a man, and only sometimes civil, she claimed the right to shrug off universal laws and just play dirty. Without giving him the smallest chance to recover, she threw herself at the fallen man, eager to finish him.

_**I**__ need air!_ That was Alec's last conscious thought, before he succumbed.

xxxxxxx

A few hours later, the two exhausted transgenics were sprawled on their bed. Max was playing with Alec's hair, while he rested with his head on her taut stomach.

Alec, half asleep, was comfortably lulled by Max's low purring, and her fingers massaging his scalp. Her wriggling toes were the only thing that kept his eyelids from closing definitely, catching his attention with the movement, like a toy stirred in front of a sleepy cat.

_Uhmm, pink..._ He thought drowsily. Max always blamed it on Cindy every time she indulged in girly moments but, since the siege, she hadn't seen her homegirl in months. So, that pink nail polish... definitely Max's doing. Alec's lips curled up, imagining how he would tease his tough girl forever on this one.

But for now, he preferred to lay there; basking in that warm happiness that had enveloped him after hearing Max's heated words. The rational part of him didn't understand his own reaction but... his brain was almost operative now, after the hot monkey sex that had annihilated his mental capacity for a while, and her words finally sunk in.

_She needs me!_

_Max needs me._

_Me!_

Unbidden, a tender smile graced Alec's lips, and his arms unconsciously tightened their hold on Max's body. He burrowed his face in her soft belly, inhaling her unique scent.

_She __**needs**__ me!_

_As she needs air, water and food..._

This thought, borne out of awe and gratitude, was slowly morphing into something different. Stroking any man's ego is potentially dangerous, but Alec's? The last line indeed... sounded positively like bragging. And the loving smile disappeared as well, turning into a smug smirk.

_**The girl needs me!**_

That conceited, high and mighty rapture had a short life, though. Alec didn't know that Max could detect the boasting quality of a smile cuz it was tightly pressed against her belly. That wasn't a transgenic thing! Maybe it was just a female prerogative? It didn't change the fact that, as soon as his smile had changed from happy and sweet to smug and vain, Max had suddenly stopped her light purr and her stroking.

When after a brief moment her hands resumed their idle movement, Alec released the breath he didn't know he was holding. Just a silly coincidence! Why on earth did he think of a mystical, feminine power? That girl had done a number on him, no kidding. Luckily she didn't know it. And she didn't have a smugginess detector on her skin...

"Alec, sweetie..." Max interrupted his musings, and the honey that was almost physically dripping from her voice froze Alec's blood.

"Why don't we talk about _your_ reasons now?"

FIN

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A/N3: well, Pai... i hope i have succeeded in un-sapping it, and keeping some of the sweetness. Let me know if u like it:D


End file.
